Lizzie Flynn's Beastly: I'm Ugly Too
by RogueMetamorph
Summary: Lizzie Flynn was taken in by Hunter King after an especially bad beating from her father, a drug addict who hated her. She had made the decision to just sit up in her room and not come out until her best friend deemed it safe to come home. She never expected to be rooming with the leader in a slasher flick... or falling in love with him. It was like Beauty and the Beast. OC/Kyle.
1. Human Again

**Lizzie Flynn's Beastly: I'm Ugly Too**

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**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Beastly (books, movies, cartoons, TV shows, comics, story arcs and etc.) which includes any of its characters or dialogue. I also don't own any other book, movie, song or character I may have mentioned along the way. I just so happened to use it for non-profitable fun in my spare time.**

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**Chapter 1 – Human Again**

Anyone who saw Kyle Kingsbury would think he was the high school hottie. Kyle had the perfect windblown blonde hair, the sparkling blue eyes, the killer smile, and the fashion sense that accentuated his drop dead gorgeous body. Kyle got straight As with the help of his charisma and his father's money to supply bribes, also getting me at the head of anything that could better his transcript. Kyle always had the right and wrong things to say, no one ever fighting him on anything even if he was a bully.

Kyle was perfect and he knew it.

But that was what ended his tyrannous rule.

It all started with the elections for the Green Committee. Kyle had been running for President and he'd gotten on Kendra's radar. He'd gone too far with messing with her and found out that the kids- including him- hadn't been far off when deeming her a witch. After a party she had cursed him, turning him into an ugly monster that rivaled his ugly insides, giving him a year to find someone to say they loved him or else stay like that forever. His father had tried to get him a face transplant before hiding him away in an old house and never seeing him. His father had also doomed Zola, their housekeeper, and a blind tutor, Will, to be stuck in exile with him.

Five months passed before Kyle ventured outside, stumbling on his old high school's yearly Halloween party. With the way he looked, no one questioned that he'd used expensive movie makeup to turn himself into a monster, allowing him to walk around free. That was when he'd spotted his old girl friend and best friend making out off in a corner.

"Sloan?"

The two of them looked up, confused, before Kyle realized what he'd done and ducked down so that they couldn't see him and his knew appearance.

"That sounding like Kyle,"

"Weird," Sloan murmured, pulling up her fifties Halloween outfit before she sighed. "I suck for not writing him back,"

"I suck more,"

"But honestly, with him gone, it's kind of a relief," Sloan continued, brushing back her permed blond hair. "Like, I always felt like I had to be on and mean, like really mean, to keep him entertained,"

"I know what you mean," Trey nodded, fixing his leather jacket. "Let's just forget about him,"

As they went back to making out Kyle felt rage building up in him, fueled by the five month old beast within him. With strength he had never felt before, he kicked a crate near him, sending it across the room before it broke in half when it hit one of the poles holding up the tent.

"Hey!" a new voice exclaimed as a female Joker appeared out of nowhere, Batman's mask and a pair of oversized sunglasses hanging off her belt.

"Sorry," Kyle muttered as he quickly turned away from the girl.

Kyle recognized this female Joker as Lizzie Flynn, a scholarship girl that went to his school. She'd been running for Treasurer and was one of the people Kendra had pointed a finger at for being more deserving of President than him. She was also the girl that he'd talked to and taken a picture with at the party before Kendra had turned him into… this.

"Nah," Lizzie waved him off. "It's fine. Shouldn't have been spying on the spy,"

Lizzie watched him for a moment before looking over at the couple making out in the corner, making her scrunch up her white painted nose.

"Disgusting," Lizzie murmured loud enough for Kyle to hear. "It feels like everywhere I look I see the death of romance, bloody and horrible,"

"Doesn't she have a boyfriend?" Kyle asked, though he knew the answer.

"Yes! This is what I'm saying," Lizzie exclaimed with a smile as she looked over at him. "What has happened to romance? The romance you read about in _Jane Eyre_ or dream about when you're a kid. What happened to those sappy long handed love letters? When did the words 'I love you' stop actually meaning something to people?" Lizzie's eyes went wide when she realized she was just rattling on to this random guy, making her look over at him apologetically. "And you really, really don't have to keep listening to me, by the way,"

When he didn't say anything or move, Lizzie decided to continue.

"The thing is, you know that guy they're talking about?" He didn't move. "Well, they're off… though not all that much," Lizzie sighed and tried to explain. "I sort of respect that he called things as he saw them… even if he did see them wrong. But do you know what it really was?"

"What?" Kyle finally asked.

Lizzie's smile was accentuated by her Joker smile as she said; "He was a shot of life,"

Kyle smiled at that and turned to find the Joker gone, leaving behind an oversized pair of purple sunglasses.

In the month that followed, Kyle watched Lizzie. He was like her own personally stalker. He went on her webpage and he found out where she lived. Kyle visited her almost every night, the first week occasionally getting a glimpse of her through her window. The next week he came early and realized that if he came earlier he would see her leaving, headphones covering her ears. He followed Lizzie to a convenience store where she bought Simply Limeade and two rolls of Rolo's. After that he followed her, getting to hear her accidently start singing a song he would later learn was called _Only You_ by the Platters. He followed her all the way to a community center where she and a group went out and gave sandwiches to homeless people. But every night, before the sun had a chance to come up, Kyle would walk home before Zola woke up, never talking to Lizzie.

One night, after having dinner with Will and Zola, about ready to have desert, Will called Kyle out as Zola returned with the cake she'd made.

"So, I heard someone sneaking in late last night. Where'd you go?"

"Isn't the good thing about having no parents that you have no parents?" Kyle bit out at him, annoyed with the blind man before he sighed. "But, you know, since we last talked, I've been thinking, and… is there any kind of eye operation? 'Cause I saw, like, every doctor in the country,"

Will smiled at the boy. "Miracle only, but thanks,"

"So, where'd you go last night?" Zola tried as she handed Kyle a piece of cake.

After picking at his piece for a while Kyle finally spoke. "I went to see about this girl,"

Zola grinned. "I'm so happy for you,"

"I didn't even talk to her,"

"Baby steps," Will told him before grinning devilishly. "You think you might say, 'Wassup'?"

Kyle rolled his eyes at the blind man. "The benefit of you being blind is you can't see how I should so never say, 'Wassup,'"

"Baby steps," Will assured him before he suddenly stood, nearly knocking his chair over. "We should celebrate,"

Twenty minutes later, Kyle found himself hitting golf balls off the roof with Will, while yelling, 'Wassup!' to New York city.

Anyone who saw Lizzie Flynn would think she was the normal nerd. Lizzie had short wavy- borderline curly- blond hair, wore men's old comic book t-shirts and converse, and had the leather satchel. Lizzie would spend extra time in the library studying for tests and exams or doing extra credit to keep her B grades up because of her being a scholarship student. Lizzie would also spout random nerdy facts, listened to old music on her way home, and talked of comic book characters as if she had helped create them. She did her best to fade into the background but her best friend, Beth Romanoff, was not one for hiding in the shadows. She even had the nerdy glasses worn especially for reading.

But Lizzie was not the normal nerd when she got home.

It all started with one foul slap. One slap was all it took for Lizzie's father- Simon Flynn- to realize that hitting her every once in a while was all it took to win the argument, make her shut up, and make himself feel better. This same slap was also all it took to make sure that Lizzie was going to try everything in her power to disappoint and eventually leave her father. This however did not include the actual physical act of leaving the house. Since he was a drug addict- stretching from cough medicine when he was desperate to cocaine when he could afford it- Lizzie wasn't inclined to be the inadvertent cause of his death if he were to overdose and she not be there.

But another slap across the face, that came much later- followed by punching and kicking- led to something else. Something better. Lizzie had gotten home from her shift at Reggie's Diner- her best friend, Beth, in toe- when Lizzie found the apartment she shared with her father empty. On closer examination she found that her small stash of money that she'd been saving was missing.

"Stay here," Lizzie told Beth before running out of the apartment.

It didn't take much for her to find him though, running into the alley next to their building to find her father using her money to buy heroine to shoot up. Lizzie had ran up to him and started yelling at him about how he couldn't take the money she'd been saving for herself so that he could get high. He, however, had turned and punched her right across the cheekbone, snapping her head back and sending her to the ground. A beating ensued.

"Shut up!" her father yelled down at her, screaming into her face as he used her hair to yank her head towards his. "I took care of you since you were a little baby. I'm the one that wiped your butt, fed you, clothed you, stayed with you all these years. I deserve this money,"

"For sitting on your ass for the past ten years getting high?" Lizzie bit at him even though she knew it was incredibly stupid to do.

In return, he shoved her head at the ground and gave her a sound kick in the side. "You will learn respect if I have to beat it into y-"

"Hey!"

Lizzie blinked up at the intruder at the end of the alleyway. She tried to focus on him and see who he was but she failed miserably. Lizzie could only see a dark figure wearing a black hoodie, his voice belonging to a teenager and kind of sounding familiar.

Lizzie's father yanked Lizzie to her feet by her hair as he turned to squint at the silhouette. Realizing it was probably nothing more than a boy trying to be a hero, Lizzie's father shouted at him to screw off before turning back to his daughter.

"Stop screaming! You'll bring the whole neighborhood down on us!" Lizzie's father then threw her into the nearest wall, Lizzie's head hitting the brick before she collapsed to the cold asphalt.

There was a moment as Lizzie's father looked down at her still form, shock etched on his face, as he tried to figure out what he felt. Was he feeling guilt for hurting his daughter? Was he happy that she was finally learning her lesson and he had shut her up? Was he mad that she had forced him to do that to her?

Lizzie's father never got to finish his thoughts because a fist suddenly slammed into his face, knocking him out cold. The figure glared down at the man lying still in a puddle of who knows what, angry at the man for causing such pain to the girl lying near him. The hooded figure turned and carefully picked up Lizzie, tucking her unconscious form against his chest before carrying her into her apartment building.

"What the hell?!" a new voice exclaimed.

The figure looked up at the girl running at him from the elevator, hoping that his hood was far enough over his face not to freak her out. The girl was Beth Romanoff, Lizzie's best friend, a genius of a girl with fake red hair and a body that didn't quit. She went to the same school that Lizzie did and for good reason.

"What did you do to her?" Beth exclaimed, stopping a few feet from him.

It looked as if she was trying to decide whether to stay away from the creepy hooded figure holding her unconscious friend or try to take and carry her best friend all the way up to the apartment on her own. She chose to stand back.

"It wasn't me," the figure told her instantly. "It was her scumbag dad,"

"Shit," Beth hissed under her breath, stepping forward to look Lizzie over, not bothering to worry about the hooded figure anymore. "Well, let's take her up to the apartment,"

Beth led the hooded figure into the elevator and then up into apartment 2D, having him lay her unconscious friend down on the old couch that looked like it was from the 80s. As the figure faded back into the shadows of the dimly lit room, watching the unconscious girl, Beth went to work finding all the necessary things she'd need to heal her friend, all the while muttering to herself angrily.

"I told her to get away from that dick," Beth hissed, putting water into a bowl, a few paper towels in her hand. "But does she listen? No. 'Where am I supposed to go?' 'What if something happens to him?' 'What if he finds me when I leave? He'll literally kill me.' And what is this called? If it wasn't for the creepy dude she'd probably be dead now,"

Beth turned to take the bowl out to clean Lizzie up but got a surprise when the hooded figure was standing directly beside her. Beth shrieked, dropping her bowl of water, getting her leg and feet soaked as she stared up at the guy with wide eyes. She could see part of his face in the light, seeing large gashes and some weird tattoos that made her think horror movie.

"What are you? The lead in a slasher flick?" Beth gasped, putting a hand over her heart.

"You could say that," the guy murmured to himself. "Look, you can't let her stay here anymore,"

"No shit," Beth bit at him.

The figure pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and set it on the counter. "You need to clean her up, pack her things and take her to this address. They can keep her safe there and her dad can't track her there,"

Beth gave him a skeptical look. "And I'm supposed to do this why?"

"Because you care about her and you probably don't want to see her die,"

Beth gave him a hard look before looking away from him and picking up the piece of paper, staring down at the address for a moment. "What is this place anyway? A wife beater's clinic?"

When she got no answer she looked up to find him gone.


	2. Is This Home? Be Our Guest

**Chapter 2 – Is This Home? Be Our Guest**

Lizzie glared at her best friend as best she could with a bruised cheekbone.

Lizzie had woken up on her couch to Beth cleaning her up. Beth had then sprung on her that Lizzie needed to pack anything she would want or need for a very long trip away from home. Lizzie, being out of it and not really thinking, did as she was told, grabbing her lap top, her flash drive, her favorite books, her favorite comics, her makeup, and her favorite pillow while Beth packed all the clothes that Lizzie would need. Once Lizzie's stuff was in Beth's car and Lizzie was buckled up and in the car, Beth sprung on her where they were going. Beth's parents apparently had some old who took in people who needed to disappear for a while.

Lizzie had been about to throw herself out of the car when Beth stopped her.

"Lizzie, I care about you and I don't want you to die," Beth exclaimed, her knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel. "All I'm asking is that you stay with this guy, quit school for a while, don't call or see your dad, stop going to the clinic-"

"Give up my whole life," Lizzie finished for her angrily.

Beth turned and glared at Lizzie. "You realize that you would have died last night, right? If that guy hadn't knocked out your dad you would have died,"

"Dad wouldn't," Lizzie argued before adding; "He's not stupid enough to kill me,"

"But he is stupid enough to accidently do it," Beth continued, having heard her. "Remember when you had those broken ribs when he kicked you down the stairs? If I hadn't taken you to the hospital, one of those ribs could have punctured you lungs, or worse, your heart,"

Lizzie remained silent as she stared out the window.

"Lizzie," Beth sighed, resorting to using her nickname. "Just do this… for me,"

Lizzie glared out the window.

Twenty minutes later, Lizzie deciding that glaring at her best friend was better than glaring out the window, the car came to a stop. Beth got out and stood on the side walk as she waited for Lizzie to finally step out of the car. It took another five minutes for that to happen. Lizzie got out and looked up at the tall, older house that reminded her of Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray, or maybe even a typically all-American family. The two got Lizzie's luggage before entering the house, a black woman greeting them at the door.

"Hell. I'm Zola,"

Beth smiled kindly while Lizzie looked around, seeming annoyed again.

"So…" Beth started. "Where is he?"

"Does it matter?" Lizzie murmured, without looking at the two women beside her.

"I'm not going to just leave you here, Lizzie,"

"I thought you knew these people," Lizzie bit out, turning to Beth.

Beth gave a guilty look. "My parents do, not me,"

"Hunter be out right now. He be back soon," Zola told Beth, undeterred by Lizzie. "I let you say goodbye,"

With that, Zola left the two girls at the door, Lizzie annoyed, Beth desperate, and a figure watching silently from the staircase. No one spoke for a long moment before Lizzie sighed and hugged Beth hard, making Beth stumble back a step before hugging back.

"I hate you, Elizabeth Romanoff," Lizzie murmured.

"I hate you, too, Elizabeth Flynn," Beth murmured back with a smile before the two let each other go. "I know you can take care of yourself but… I'd rather someone else do it for a while,"

Lizzie gave another soft glare before she nodded. "Call me?"

Beth nodded.

Zola came back in as the two said their final goodbyes and Beth left, the two women listening as the sound of her car disappeared into the distance. Once it grew silent, the glare returned to Lizzie's face as she turned to the rest of the house.

"So, I'm here, okay?" Lizzie yelled. "Whoever you are, you come near me, I Taser your ass,"

The figure on the stairs cowered into the shadows a bit.

Zola sighed. "I show you to you room then,"

"Thank you," Lizzie nodded.

As the days went by Lizzie didn't leave her room. Kyle felt lucky that she was even eating. Every time he tried to talk to her she would just yell a snarky comment and then grow silent. He even tried to give her gifts as a way to trick her out of her room. The first try was a fail, the expensive red leather purse being thrown back into its box. The second try was even worse, the expensive gold earrings being thrown back into their case and then the case was thrown down the fall before she slammed her door shut and the song _She Fucking Hates Me_ was heard for the next twenty minutes.

"This time go to Barney's, get Manolos or whatever sick-expensive kind Sloan and her bimbots loved," Kyle told Zola as she got ready to leave the house on errands.

Zola shook her head at the beastly boy. "Everything you say to me about her, everything I see, tells me she's not the kind-"

"Prada, then,"

"-to be bought," Zola finished, surprising Kyle.

"I'm not trying to buy her,"

"You are. And she'll hate that,"

Kyle sighed in annoyance, realizing that Zola was right. "So, what then?"

"What do you know about her?" Zola tried. "You must think about her. Me know you see who she is. Go on. Think,"

That afternoon, wearing his black ski mask to cover up his beastly face, Kyle went to Lizzie's room again, carrying a whole box of Rolo's rolls. Kyle knocked first but after hearing her continue to talk on her phone he decided to go on in.

"It's like you don't even know me," Lizzie was saying. "This whole thing is all kinds of mess. It's just a bad scene. There's nothing remotely good and I miss everybody. I miss being able to go out and get Rolo's whenever I want. And the community center. And everything that made me me… No, It's way screwed up and he thinks he can give me a few presents and, like, that fixes everything. I know it's just for a little while, but I hate it. I hate missing school, hate my dad, just hate hating. And I know it's life or death, but I've been saving for that Mach Picchu trip for three years. You know, the first thing I did in my life just for me, just because-"

Lizzie suddenly stopped talking into her cell phone as she heard the squeak of someone on the stairs leading up to her room. She ran over and came face to face with a teen in a ski mask who tripped backwards down the stairs in fright and hit the wall.

"Jesus!" Kyle exclaimed up at her. "What's your problem?"

"My problem?!" Lizzie exclaimed back. "Says the guy in the ski mask!"

"I didn't want to freak you out,"

"Yeah," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "A ski mask wouldn't freak me out because that's not what back tellers, murder and rape victims see before they die,"

Not knowing what to say to that, Kyle picked up the box of Rolos and put it on the top stair before retreating back to the bottom step again. "I- uh- got you Rolos,"

Lizzie stared at them for a moment in surprise. "… Thanks,"

Kyle nodded.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Uh-hu,"

"Why am I here?"

Kyle thought this was a stupid question. "Because you need to be protected,"

"I can take care of myself," Lizzie threw back. "You don't even know me,"

"But my dad and your friend's parents-"

"Yeah, yeah," Lizzie nodded, waving him on.

"Your friend wanted someone your dad could trace you to," Kyle explained, lying mostly. "She's scared out of her mind that something will happen to you… because of how much she loves you,"

"Really?"

"Yeah,"

Lizzie sighed, seeming to except this before she looked down at her box of Rolo's. "Thanks for the Rolo's,"

"You're welcome," Kyle nodded before he left the room.

The thinking thing had killed and now Kyle was intent on starting a very long, longhand letter to Lizzie to give her when the time was right. Kyle was also planning on getting to work on something even bigger, something that would win him big.

"You're doing what?"

"Seeing if I can build a greenhouse," Kyle answered Will as he laid out the myriad of tools across the coffee table, an Iron Man movie on in the background. "She's very into roses. Each color means something different, you know?"

"Yeah," Will nodded sarcastically. "They all kind of mean, 'I'm the guy who cries at chick-flicks and sleeps with stuffed animals,'"

Kyle snorted.

The two men froze at the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Zola was out on an errand meaning that there was only one other person it could be.

"I'm not here," Kyle hissed as he jumped off the couch and hid behind the curtains.

A second later Lizzie appeared in the doorway, an oversized sweater obscuring the picture of Spiderman on her shirt. "Hey. I'm Lizzie,"

"Hi. Will. A pleasure," Will greeted, getting up from his seat to shake her hand.

"I heard Robert Downey Jr. and thought I'd see what movie it was,"

"You a Downey fan?"

Lizzie shrugged. "More like an Iron Man fan with a hint of Sherlock Holmes fan. I'm a diehard lover of comic books,"

Will nodded. "I knew it. A guys gal," Will turned his head and exclaimed. "A guys gal!"

Kyle rolled his eyes behind the curtain as Lizzie gave Will a strange look.

"Why don't you join me?"

"Thanks," Lizzie smiled, sitting on the arm of the couch as she eyed the coffee table. "What's with all the tools?"

"It's Hunter's thing. It's a structure on the roof,"

"Structure for what?" Lizzie asked, interested.

"You ever see the 1954 _Devil Girl From Mars_ flick where they abduct virginal teenage girls for breeding stock?" Will asked sarcastically.

Kyle was about to jump out of his hiding place and strangle the blind man before he heard the heavenly sound of Lizzie's laughter.

"That's horrible… and hopefully not why I'm here," Lizzie commented once her laughter had ceased. "But really. What's with the tools?"

Will snorted. "The building books and murder weapons belong to Hunter, an all-around way-good guy, who's contemplating building a green house,"

"A greenhouse?" Lizzie repeated before nodding in approval. "Groovy, dude,"

"I know, right?" Will nodded, annoyed at being wrong.

Kyle just smiled from his hiding place.

For the next month Kyle kept writing his longhand letter to Lizzie and went to work on the greenhouse, working on it a bit every day. The whole time Kyle kept out of sight whenever Lizzie was around, ducking around corners, hiding behind furniture, and staying on the roof working. The only time he spent time out in the open was a night when Lizzie was either asleep or hidden up in her room.

That's how she ended up officially meeting him.

He was downstairs in the living room with the TV on, writing his letter to her, when she appeared in the doorway. She flipped the lights on and he quickly shoved his letter under the couch cushion and pulled his hood father over his face.

"So, are we ever going to actually meet? Officially?"

"Mmhm,"

"Now?"

"No!" Kyle said instantly, making Lizzie deflate.

"Okay…" There was a long and awkward moment of silence before Lizzie broke it. "Lived here all of your life?"

"No. I moved here pretty recently," Kyle told her truthfully. "I was living with my dad but he's not the kind of guy that can really… deal,"

"And your mom?" Lizzie tried, only getting silence on his end. "Mine left. My little sister died when I was little and they couldn't get past it. So… no mom, screwed up dad. It's too bad we have nothing in common," Still Kyle said nothing so she just stood, leaning against the doorway, her eyes moving about the room until they caught on the TV. "What's up with the Korean TV? Do you speak Korean?"

"Fluently," Kyle nodded sarcastically.

"Oh, really?" Lizzie asked, playing along. "What are they saying?"

"Bon appetit,"

"She did _not_ say, 'Bon appetit,'"

"Oh, you speak Korean, too?"

"I don't like to show off, but yes," Lizzie smiled, walking into the room and sitting down on the arm of the couch. "And Koreans do not say, 'Bon Appetit,'"

"She said the Korean equivalent,"

"Which is?"

"'I hope you have a big appetite such that you scarf food and hurl chunks,'"

The two burst into laughter at that.

"I hope Will isn't your Korean teacher or else you are seriously getting duped," Lizzie joked as she brought her legs up so that she was sitting Crisscross Applesauce while balancing on the couch arm.

"Do you, uh- Do you miss school?"

"Like a natural born monk," she answered. "Though it's nice to have gotten a break,"

"'Cause I have classes if you want to come," Kyle finished.

Lizzie smiled over at the hooded figure she knew to be Hunter. "Yes. I'd love to. Tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Sure,"

Lizzie nodded back and stood. "Well… great. I guess good night then,"

She was about to leave when he stopped her, making her turn back to him as he stood. Lizzie watched as he slowly pulled off his hood and turned toward her, revealing the man beneath. Before Lizzie was a boy with pointed ears, cuts and scars all over his face, and miscellaneous vine tattoos stretching across his face, over his bald head, and down across his chest. And his hands- which, for some reason, she hadn't noticed before- actually looked more like claws than fingers.

"Pretty gruesome, huh?"

Lizzie knew exactly what she was looking at. This was a boy that hated himself, like a vampire who hated what he was and overlooked _who_ he was. This was a boy that only saw that he was some sort of monster and didn't see that he could potentially be a good person instead of bitter. Lizzie knew that she'd seen worse than this poor soul… like her dad, Hitler, Sauron, Umbridge, Voldemort… maybe even Kyle Kingsbury.

Lizzie smiled at him and said; "I've seen worse,"

The next morning, Kyle was up early, running down the hall to Will's room where he starting banging on the door. It opened a minute later with a half asleep Will glaring aimlessly at him for waking him up with the annoying banging.

"We're having school today, but you need to make it seem like we didn't just start and I need to look smart," Kyle told him instantly. "Lizzie's coming,"

A smirk instantly appeared on Will's face.

"Shut up. What are we studying?"

"Don't worry," Will assured him. "I'll come up with something graphic and humiliating,"

"No, no, no. I need to know what it is now. I need the answers in advance,"

"That's called cheating," Will pointed out.

"No, that's called trying to get a girl to like you while you look like the lead in a slasher flick,"

Will sighed and tried to think. "Uh… Shakespeare sonnet,"

"Obvious," Kyle shot down.

"E.E. Cummings,"

"Cliché,"

Will rolled his unseeing eyes. "No, what's cliché is the guy liking school to impress the girl,"

"What about the Frank O'Hara poem, _Having a Coke with You_?" Kyle tried.

Will gave him a surprised look. "How do you know that poem?"

"I Googled 'modern poetry to impress girls,'" Kyle admitted, making Will groan and roll his eyes again. "But I need smart things to say,"

"Yeah, good luck with that," Will murmured, shutting the door in Kyle's face.

"I need another thinking thing," Kyle told Zola as he entered the dining room. "Another thing Lizzie will like. It's for this morning. Please don't ask,"

"When my husband wanted me to marry him, he would weave me baskets," Zola tried.

Kyle scrunched his nose. "Yeah, I really don't think that's gonna work. What about chocolates?"

"Oh, no,"

Kyle groaned. "Come on,"

"She will like it when you are being kind-"

"Yeah, I suck at that,"

"-when you're being yourself,"

"What, this self or the jerk I was?"

Zola sighed, reaching forward to pat his hand. "The man I know you to be,"

Upstairs, Lizzie woke up and pulled on one of her favorite comic books shirts, one that was starting to be too small for her, and then put on her biggest grandfather sweater. After brushing her hair and putting on her glasses she was about to go downstairs and find Hunter or Will but was stopped when she heard a knock on her sky light. She looked up to see Hunter smiling down at her, gesturing for her to come up. After he pushed the glass out of the way she ascended the stairs and entered a green house full of various colored roses. It was breath taken and smelled like heaven to Lizzie, her eyes scanning the view of New York from the roof.

"How'd you do all of this?" Lizzie asked, looking back at Kyle.

He shrugged. "I just figured it out,"

Lizzie turned all the way around and ventured back inside until she spotted the poem sitting on one of the chairs in the green house. "What's with the poem?"

"We're studying poetry today," he told her, looking happy with himself.

Lizzie scrunched her nose. "Ick. I hate poetry,"

"_Shoot me now_," Kyle murmured.

"What?"

"No, I mean, I know exactly what you mean," Kyle nodded vigorously. "Poetry really isn't one of my favorite subjects,"

Lizzie gave him a look before nodding. "The only poem I really ever liked was _Mad Girl's Love Song_ by Sylvia Plath… but of course she wrote that before sticking her head in an oven,"

"Ouch,"

Lizzie nodded in agreement.

"_Blind man climbing. OW! Blind man tripping_,"

The two of them turned to see Zola trying to lead Will up to the greenhouse, the two of them walked over, Lizzie saying hi to Will before helping Zola with her load of breakfast supplies. Kyle helped Will into the greenhouse, murmured to him; "I'm up the creek. Apparently Lizzie hates poetry,"

Will snorted. "God, I'm looking forward to this class,"

Lizzie walked over, handing Will and Kyle their bottles of Simply Orange while she opened her Simply Limeade. "Long time green thumb?" she asked, gesturing to the various rose plants.

"No. No," Kyle shook his head, pulling the tin off the opening of his bottle. "Actually, my dad stuck me in this house so no one could see me and I thought I'd take the ugly and shameful thing and turn it into something not,"

Lizzie ducked her eyes, easily seeing that what he was saying was just to impress her. Not to mention she could hear Will gagging behind her.

"Of course," Kyle continued, glaring at Will even though he couldn't see it. "Not everyone can necessarily see its beauty,"

"Just read," Will groaned.

And that was the beginning of many classes.


	3. Something There

**Author's Note: Thank you guys so much! Thank you grapejuice101, xxxMadameMysteryxxx and crossMIRAGE19 for reviewing my story. It means the world to me to hear what you guys have to say about my story. Thank you!**

* * *

******Chapter **3 – Something There

Months went by slowly, Lizzie and Kyle/Hunter growing closer as time went by. They had classes together, watched movies, stayed up late talking, listened to music, anything that Lizzie found interesting or that she was willing to let Kyle join her in.

"_Am I cursed_?"

"No!" Lizzie exclaimed at the TV, glaring at Tom Hiddleston.

"Shh," Kyle shushed though there was little warning in it since he was chuckling at her. "You're going to wake Will and Zola up,"

Lizzie blushed and shrunk back into the couch, ducking her head down as Loki and Odin had a father-adopted-son-moment. Kyle smiled contently at her and nudged her with his shoulder as he turned back to watch Loki yell at Odin.

"You only think he's not cursed because he's hot," Kyle murmured, feeling a little twinge in his chest at saying it.

"He is tall, gangly, and nerdy," Lizzie told him before smiling. "My type,"

Kyle slouched.

"But more importantly, he's troubled," she continued, her eyes on Loki as he began to cry. "He completely loses his sense of self when he finds out he's actually adopted and a Frost Giant. He feels like all these years of his life and him not getting as far ahead as his brother are boiled down to him being a Frost Giant and not being good enough… it makes me hate Thor,"

Kyle gave Lizzie a surprised look. "Most people love Thor,"

Lizzie scrunched her nose in the way Kyle loved. "Thor is too perfect, gets everything he wants, wins the girl for no reason, just… ick. He deserves getting tossed out of Asgard because he actually has to learn something, actually has to earn what he has," Lizzie leaned her head against Kyle's shoulder. "Loki, on the other hand, tries to earn his father's love even though he doesn't have to. He does everything wrong to fix everything- to make everything right. He is so twisted and lonely and desperate… I love it,"

Kyle looked down at her and sighed. "Figures,"

"You remind me of Loki sometimes," Lizzie admitted, making Kyle stiffen beneath her. "You try so hard and you see yourself so badly… it's sort of stupid,"

"Thanks," Kyle murmured, not sure whether to be insulted or grateful.

"You're welcome,"

Kyle continued to watch the movie with Lizzie's head on his shoulder and with her occasionally telling him odd facts about Thor comics and about Norse mythology. He couldn't help but love it.

However, there were some days during these months that came up out of nowhere where Lizzie wouldn't come out of her room at all and Kyle would sometimes walk by and hear her crying softly. Kyle once asked her about it but she just ducked her head and said cramps but Kyle didn't believe her.

"And so my name is Elizabeth Isabelle Flynn and hers is Elizabeth Anna Romanoff," Lizzie was explaining to him.

"That must have been weird, having a best friend that has the same name as you," Kyle commented from the doorway.

Lizzie shook her head. "Not really. It was actually one of the reason we became friends in the first place," Lizzie told him matter-of-factly. "She uses Beth and I use Lizzie. But during third grade when my favorite movie was _Little Women_ we ended up having a huge argument because I wanted to use Beth. My mom fixed it though, saying that I should let her have it since Beth dies," Lizzie snorted and rolled her eyes. "Ah, memories,"

Kyle chuckled at her, watching her stretch out across the mattress she'd stolen from his dad, looking like a lazy cat that was way too comfortable. She'd walked by and seen the nearly empty room and on hearing that his dad had left him there, had pushed the mattress off the wall and laid down on it like nothing. Kyle was still standing in the doorway, watching her lounging, the heels of her feet up on the wall closest to her, legs crossed at the ankle.

"Unfortunate name… Hunter King," Lizzie commented suddenly, finally laying back. "At least your first name isn't Fisher,"

"Why would it be Fisher?" Kyle asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Because…" she sighed, seeming disappointed about something. "You know the Holy Grail?"

"Yeah?"

"You know the guy that has been babysitting it? That's _the_ Fisher King,"

"Oh," Kyle nodded, thinking about Indiana Jones.

Zola walked past them, looking into the room over Kyle's shoulder. "Do you two need anything? I be going to the store,"

Lizzie instantly righted herself, sitting Crisscross Applesauce in a flash of movement. "Do we have enough eggs, milk, chopped ham, onions, green peppers, and cheese for four people?"

Zola thought about it for a moment. "I be back with green peppers and onions. What you be making?"

Lizzie smiled sweetly. "I'm giving you the night off and I'm making all of us omelets,"

Kyle frowned. "You don't have to do that,"

"I want to," Lizzie assured him.

"Don't argue," Zola told Kyle, smacking him lightly on the arm. "I been making food for you for months now. I be wantin' me break now,"

Kyle chuckled. "Alright. Can I help though?"

"Of course," Lizzie smiled at him. "I need someone to do all of the stirring,"

A few hours later, Lizzie and Kyle were stationed in the kitchen, Kyle stirring the eggs and milk while Lizzie was chopping the onions and green peppers. The two were listening to the radio when Lizzie groaned, running out of the kitchen and coming back with her laptop. She turned it on and went to her music, turning on _Only You_ by the Platters. Almost instantly a smile of pure contentment appeared on her face as the song began to play.

"I love this song," Lizzie smiled as her eyes drifted shut and she began to sway. "The definition of love needs to be this song,"

Lizzie lifted her arms up above her head slowly, dropping her head down and as she twisted, feeling free. She could hear Hunter chuckling at her but she didn't care, this song- for a total of two minutes and thirty six seconds- made that place in her heart that always felt so sad and empty, utterly and completely happy. It was only when she felt hands appear on her waist did she stop moving, her arms dropping down to rest on broad shoulders as her eyes snapped open to see him.

"Dance with me?" Hunter asked nervously.

Lizzie slowly nodded.

The song stopped before starting back up again a second later. Kyle took one of Lizzie's hands off his shoulder and held it in his like two people waltzing, Lizzie ducking her head as her cheeks grew red. Kyle chuckled at her, carefully swinging her out and sending her into a fit of giggles, pulling her back against him only a second later. The two continued dancing for another two minutes and six seconds until Kyle dipped Lizzie down, making her laugh as she held onto him, probably hoping not to fall. As the song started up again, Kyle pulled Lizzie back up and let her go, going back to his bowl of milk and eggs as Lizzie went back to chopping. Once they were finished getting the ingredients Lizzie changed the song, putting it on shuffle for all of her music, ending up with Lana Del Rey's _Born To Die_, making Lizzie blush for the first few seconds of the song.

"Can I have the eggs please?" Lizzie asked Kyle as she finished frying the green peppers, onions, and ham together, pouring the mix onto its own plate.

Kyle handed it to her and he watched her get to work on making omelets for all of them, always careful to keep her long sleeves out of the food. It soon became his job to put the cheese on the omelets and to hand her the plates for the omelets. Kyle liked helping her and liked watching her, seeing her cheeks heat up whenever she was embarrassed or when she leaned too far over the stove.

"Hunter? Plate?"

Kyle blinked before obediently handing her the plate.

Lizzie smiled at him as she finished scooping up the remains of the omelet and shoveled it onto the plate that he offered. He smiled back as kindly as he could before turning away from her as she shoved her sleeves up her arms and poured the rest of the runny egg into the pan.

Kyle stopped what he was doing when he spotted strange red lines stretching horizontally across her left wrist. Some of the scars were shiny and white- probably over a year old- others were light pink- like they were a few months old and were still healing- and then there were a few that were bright red- as if they were only a few weeks old. It made Kyle mad that Lizzie, a sweet and wonderful girl, was resorting to hurting herself. It made him even madder at the thought of her hurting herself while she'd been staying with him.

"Does it really suck that bad staying here?" Kyle asked without thinking about it.

Lizzie looked up at him, confused at his question until his eyes connected with her wrist again and he jerked his chin toward it. Lizzie looked down before her eyes went wide and she shoved her sleeve back down so that the scars were hidden again. Her face was now closed off and a little sad, her eyes downcast towards the cooking omelet.

"It's stupid doing that," Kyle continued. "Your dad has been hurting you for who knows how long and now that he's out of your life you're just hurting yourself more. Do you hate it here so much that you have to slit your wrists?"

"It's not like that," Lizzie mumbled without looking up at him.

"Then what is it like?" Kyle growled, the new animal side of him rearing its ugly head.

Lizzie sighed, flipping the omelet over so that she could add the green peppers, ham, and cheese before she spoke. "It started after my mom left us. Dad decided to put all his emotional baggage on me and I had no one to talk to. It felt like my mind and emotions were running a million miles an hour constantly. It was like in those movies when someone is freaking out and someone comes up and slaps them. 'Thanks, I needed that,'" Lizzie glanced up at him with dull brown eyes full of sadness. "The first time I cut myself, it felt just like that. I was calm and at peace,"

"But why now?" Kyle asked.

Lizzie sighed again. "Habit. It's what I know," she tried to explain, shrugging at him. "Everything here is so unfamiliar and different… I guess I needed some familiarity,"

"Fine," Kyle conceded even though his voice was still angry. "But you need to stop,"

Lizzie looked up at him with angry eyes. "Yeah. Says the guy with enough cuts and scars to rival my wrist,"

Kyle flinched and dropped his eyes.

"Look… I'm sorry I said that but… you can't tell me what to do even if it's probably the best thing for me," Lizzie tried before nudging him with her shoulder. "I didn't mean what I said, alright? Please look at me,"

Kyle sighed and looked up at her. "I don't want you to hurt yourself,"

Lizzie stared at him for a long moment before looking down at her omelet. "Plate, please. Before this burns to a smelly crisp,"

Kyle didn't ask about it again but he grew more worried than usual on those days when she stayed up in her room. He tried not to push her about it but one night around midnight, about a week after finding out, he heard her go downstairs and decided to follow her. He found her in the living room crying, curled up on the couch and in the dark.

"Lizzie?" he asked carefully, hoping not to scare her. He heard sniffling and the unmistakable sound of tissues being pulled out of a tissue box.

"Yeah?"

Kyle turned the lights on and watched as Lizzie's head disappeared under a blanket.

"Are you alright?" he asked even though she wasn't.

"I'm fine. I just have something in my eye," she told him, her voice breaking.

Kyle wasn't stupid of course and walked over to sit beside her, careful not to sit too close and scare her off. "You want to talk about it?"

He heard more sniffling.

"No," she murmured before he heard her start crying again.

Kyle, as carefully as he could, placed a clawed hand on her back and tried to comfort her even though he was a beast and she had a blanket over her head. It seemed to work though because she leaned toward him, resting her head on his shoulder as she began to calm down.

"What's wrong?" Kyle tried, rubbing her shoulder.

After some more sniffling, Lizzie finally answered. "My dad has done horrible things to me for no reason. He's beaten me, yelled at me, punished me, stolen from me… and I hate him. People say that you can never really hate your parents because they are your parents, that you'll always love them. But that isn't true for me. I hate him,"

Kyle remained quiet, not sure what to say.

"But, despite my hating him… I somehow manage to miss him,"

This threw Kyle for a loop. "Why?"

Lizzie sniffed again. "I have no idea… because he's my dad maybe?" she shrugged. "But I hate it. I can't stand that with everything he's done, I miss him,"

The two sat in silence before Lizzie finally straightened away from Kyle and pulled the blanket off of her head. Kyle smiled at her frizzy blond hair that was flying everywhere, the little red nose peeking out beneath the bush of hair, and the embarrassed brown eyes that were looking up at him.

"I probably look like one of those frizzy haired trolls but with a cold," Lizzie mumbled.

"But a cute one," Kyle added before he dropped his eyes. "Definitely not a troll when you're sitting next to a lead in a monster horror movie,"

Lizzie stopped wiping her face with a tissue to look over at him. She pushed the hair out of her face and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look her in the eyes. Kyle almost didn't want to since they looked so angry with him.

"You listen here, Hunter King," she told him forcefully. "You are not a monster. What matters is what you are inside and what you do. If you were going around killing people or hurting people or mutilating livestock _then_ you'd be a monster… you aren't, are you?"

Kyle snorted. "No,"

Lizzie smiled. "Then you aren't a monster… you just so happen to have had an unfortunate incident,"

Kyle gave her a small smile. "Thanks,"

Lizzie let go of his chin and shrugged. "It's the truth,"

She then went to work running her fingers through her frizzy hair, flattening it out before grabbing another tissue to blow her nose and wipe away the tears and running make up. Kyle smiled at her, loving the way she looked ever with her running make up. She was cute and sweet and wonderful.

She looked up at him then, making him duck his head before she could see his content smile.

"What happened to you?" she asked, making him turn his face away from her. "I mean… you don't have to tell me but… I'd like to know,"

Kyle scoffed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you,"

Lizzie scooted toward him and nudged him with her shoulder. "Try me, cowboy,"

Kyle remained silent, knowing that even though she was asking him to tell her no matter how strange the story, she would never believe that a witch had turned him into what he was. So he remained silent, turned away from her, leaving her to speculate.

"May I…?"

Kyle turned toward her to see her hand reaching toward him, making him jump back, ending up sitting on the couch arm. Kyle hated the way that her eyes filled with fear and the way that she jumped when he moved away from her, the way that her hand dropped into her lap and her whole body stiffened. But he didn't want her to see him anymore than she had to. He didn't want her to see just how ugly he really was.

"I'm sorry," the two of them said at the same time, their eyes downcast.

Kyle looked up at her again before sighing, scooting off the couch arm and towards her, making his movements slow and dramatic so he didn't scare her. She looked up at him slowly, looking embarrassed and ashamed but no longer scared.

"I'm sorry," Kyle repeated. "It's just… really gruesome,"

Lizzie gave a shaky smile. "You aren't as gruesome as you think… at least, not to me,"

Kyle dropped his eyes before he hesitantly pulled his hooded sweater off, revealing his scarred and tattooed arms. Kyle kept his eyes down and stayed as still as humanly possible as Lizzie's eyes traveled over him, also not moving even when she scooted toward him and lifted at hand to him. Her finger tips brushed against one of the vine tattoos before traveling down to his hand which had a rose scarred into the back of it.

But Kyle couldn't help but flinch when her soft, warm fingers touched his face, running along one of the long cuts that lined his cheekbone. He felt her stiffen beside him but she didn't move away, just froze for a moment before looking him in the eye.

"Does it hurt?"

Kyle shook his head a little, making her fingers press into his cheek. "No,"

Lizzie turned her eyes back to the pieces of silver in his cuts, the tattooed tree on his forehead, the chapped skin on his neck, the word 'suck' tattooed on one eyebrow.

"What happened to you?" she murmured without thinking.

"I was so ugly on the inside, someone thought they'd make the outside match,"

Lizzie remained quiet before she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Well, both look beautiful to me,"


	4. If I Can't Love Her

**Chapter 4 – If I Can't Love her**

"I got your CDs,"

Lizzie looked up from her X-Men comic to see Hunter standing at the top of her staircase, holding the new CDs she had asked for. She watched as his eyes traveled over her, making her blush as she realized what he was seeing; XXXL comic t-shirt that barely made it halfway down her bare thighs.

"Thanks," she smiled, curling her legs up under her as his eyes flashed up to her face again.

He nodded at her before he started to smirk. "Is that a tattoo?"

"No," she murmured guiltily, a blush on her face. "Not really… maybe… sort of… yeah,"

"What is it?" he asked, walking over towards her bed as she stretched out her leg so that he could see the side of her thigh.

"It says, '**Whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it's very important that you do it because nobody else will**,'" She then turned so that he could see her other thigh. "And this one says, '**Beauty without intelligence is a masterpiece painted on a napkin**.' Then I have on my ribcage that says, '**I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Mischief Managed**,' and on my hip that says '**Sarcasm beats killing people**,'"

"Wow," he murmured before his eyes moved to her computer, his jaw dropping. Lizzie gave him a confused look and got up to see what he was looking at. On the screen of her laptop was a picture of her and Kyle Kingsbury at the party just before he disappeared. Lizzie's theory on why he disappeared had nothing to do with rehab like everyone else's, it had to do with Kyle's father and a shovel.

Lizzie quickly slapped her laptop closed and turned to Hunter, giving him a guilty smile.

"Just some guy at my old school," Lizzie explained. "Kind of a jerk actually,"

"Really?"

"Yeah. We were on a committee together so that's why I have his picture,"

"Well, I mean, looks-wise he doesn't suck," Kyle commented.

"And he knew it too," Lizzie nodded. "Same old, same old, jerks are exciting and my type falls for them-"

"Did you fall for him-?"

"-Not that I fell for him," Lizzie finished, her eyes a little wide and her cheeks a little pink. "You know, every once in a while, you kind of remind me of him-"

Instantly Kyle ducked his head and walked over to her CD stack, crouching down beside it awkwardly, trying to look natural and failing.

"Not that you're a jerk," Lizzie's face scrunched up as if she were wincing at her own words as soon as they came out of her mouth. "Anyways, he disappeared. I think his father killed him and is covering it up. Everyone else says rehab," Lizzie snorted. "Figures. The addict's daughter falls for the addict,"

"So, you _did_ fall for him?" Kyle commented as eh got up and went over to the stairs, trying to look normal over there but failing when he hit his knee.

"No. I mean, I just… I talked to him his last night, for like a minute. You know, the truly ridiculous thing is I might have, kind of, sort of, actually thought he, a little bit, liked me… ish,"

"Of course he did," Kyle smiled at her.

"Oh, please," Lizzie sighed, rolling her eyes. "He was completely on the in and I was… not,"

"That's what I like about you," Kyle said instantly, and then regretted it once it was out of his mouth, making him drop his head. "Being on the in isn't all that,"

"Isn't that what people on the out say to make each other feel better?"

"Yeah, but is also happens to be true,"

Lizzie chuckled before her eyes moved back to her computer. "But… there was just something about him,"

"What?"

"Underneath all the bullshit was…" Lizzie sighed. "I don't know,"

"What?"

"I don't know," Lizzie sighed, looking back at him and almost glaring. "I feel like I'm explaining this all wrong, using all the wrong words,"

"Then try again," Kyle tried.

Lizzie thought about it for a moment before nodding. "He called everything as he saw it even though he saw everything wrong. He was mean and aggressive but I felt like he was like that for a reason, not because he altogether enjoyed it… maybe kind of like Snape from _Harry Potter_, how he was evil the whole time because of his parents and how the marauders treated him but underneath it all he was a good guy that loved Lily Evans,"

Lizzie looked up at him and scrunched her nose in the way he loved.

"I always hoped that Kyle was more like a James Potter- mean because he was stupid- instead of a Draco Malfoy- mean because he enjoyed it,"

"Doesn't Draco turn into some sort of wimp by the end of it?"

"My point exactly," Lizzie nodded. "James changed and got the girl, Draco stayed true, wimped out, and got squat," She chuckled and looked away and back to her computer. "I don't want to be the girl who falls for jerks but… I have a soft spot for people like Loki, Prince Nuada, Lestat, Dorian Gray, Eric Northman… even Kyle," She shrugged. "Underneath all that bullshit, he's a decent guy and that's catnip for sappy tools like me. To be the one who uncovers the real guy underneath…"

That look on her face, those words, softened something in Kyle that hadn't felt that warm in a long time. He wanted her to see more of him, stuff that no one had ever seen of him. He wanted her to see him and uncover the real guy underneath.

"Do you want to go somewhere with me?"

Lizzie looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah,"

After she was dressed, Kyle led her down the streets of New York, ducking into the shadows whenever someone came too close. Lizzie stayed beside him the whole time, her brown eyes shining in the darkness as she looked over at him.

"You know," Lizzie began as they turned down a corner to a nearly abandoned street. "Usually, if I'm out this time of night, I'm looking for my dad, mace in hand, counting off supers,"

"Counting _what_?"

"Counting off supers… superheroes," Kyle nodded in understanding. "It keeps me from getting scared,"

"Huh," Kyle nodded before understanding came to his eyes. "Oh,"

Lizzie snorted in amusement and nudged him with her shoulder.

"Fortunately, the scary guy's right next to you," Kyle murmured, a smile on his face even though Lizzie knew that he hated saying it.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Hunter," Lizzie began, walking in front of him so that they could see each other's faces. "But you're actually not as scary and monstrous as you think you are. I don't find you at all scary and gruesome,"

Kyle snorted at her. "Thanks,"

She sighed at him and fell into step beside him again. "What about when people see you?"

"They don't. I got it down,"

"I was good at blending in, too," Lizzie admitted, making Kyle give her a look.

Lizzie followed him all the way into the park in silence, giving him a look when she figured out where they were going. Together they dropped down behind one of the cages at the zoo, hiding behind the bars so that they wouldn't be seen.

"Hear that?" Kyle asked, using the hearing that his beastly ears gave him to listen to what was around them. "The animals… water lapping… in some nearby street, a man is whispering, 'I love you,'"

Kyle stopped and looked up at Lizzie, their eyes connecting for a long moment before she spoke.

"Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"Leaves rustling… people running… and in some nearby street, a man is taking a dump on some young couple's doorstep,"

Kyle gave Lizzie a grossed out look as she chuckled. Kyle then gestured for her to follow as he led her to one of the open windows of the zoo's observatory. Together they climbed through the window into the silent building, him leading her to a bench in front of a projector screen.

"Why are we here?"

"This place is important to me," he told her as he sat down on the bench, leaving her to do the same. "When I was in kindergarten, my dad offered to take me anywhere I wanted. We came to the zoo. He bought me all the toys and candy I wanted… and at the end of the day he told me my mother had left. I haven't seen her since,"

As Kyle got up to turn on the projector, Lizzie took this in, watching him carefully. She knew how he had felt that day, and she knew what it meant for him to be telling her this. He trusted her.

"After he told me, I ran away and hid in here and saw this movie," he told her as he came back and sat down again. The light of the projector came on and suddenly a herd of elephants were walking across a desert. "It's about this mother elephant whose two babies die- plague or something. She misses them so much that when she's migrating back a year later- _a year later_- she finds her babies' bones,"

On the screen the mother elephant caressed the weathered bones with her trunk.

"Can you imagine that love?"

Lizzie shook her head. "No,"

"I never brought anyone here before," he told her quietly.

Lizzie felt her heart warm at that thought, and without thinking, reached over and took his clawed hand in hers, running her thumb over the fur on the back of his hand. Kyle didn't move, didn't make any sign that she was holding his hand, except that he held it tighter.

They returned home an hour before sunrise and retreated to the roof, sitting there and watching the street lights go out as the sun came up. Kyle was trying to count off as many superheroes as he could while Lizzie told him with great certainty whether they were Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, or some other comic book company.

"Ghost Rider,"

"Marvel,"

"Hellboy,"

"Dark Horse,"

"Joker,"

"DC and a bad guy,"

"Dare Devil,"

"Marvel,"

"No, he's not. He's Dark Horse,"

"Dare Devil is Marvel," Lizzie argued with a smile on her face. "One of his love interests is Electra- who is Marvel- and he helps save X-23 from Captain America- who are both Marvel,"

Kyle ducked his head. "Okay, he _might_ be Marvel,"

Lizzie snorted and rested her head on his shoulder, ignoring the way he stiffened for a moment when she did so. "It feels like I've known you forever,"

After a long moment, he finally relaxed and continued on his list of superheroes. "Wolverine,"

"Marvel,"

"Green Lantern,"

"DC," Lizzie said before she yawned and leaned down to rest her head on his lap, using his thigh as a pillow. "The sun's coming up,"

"Carnage,"

"Marvel… bad guys,"

"Venom,"

"… Marvel… multiple bad guys…" With that, Lizzie fell asleep.

Kyle brushed her bangs out of her face and rested his hand on her shoulder, whispering; "I think- I think I'm in love with you,"

Later that morning, Kyle, Will and Zola sat together in the greenhouse. After an hour of Kyle comfortably sitting with Lizzie's head on his thigh, Kyle had carried Lizzie to her room and put her to bed. However, on his way out he'd seen some messages that had been going on between her and Beth. Apparently Lizzie had been thinking about running away to Beth a while back and now Beth was agreeing with her since the trip was only about a week away. Kyle had nearly felt his heart literally break in half at seeing those messages.

"Maybe I should let her go. At least she'll be safe in Machu Picchu,"

"She has been jonesing for that trip forever, even with being stuck here," Will agreed, moving a checker piece across the board.

"But every day, she like you more and more," Zola argued as Will stole one of her pieces while she wasn't looking. "Move you hands,"

"Sorry,"

"But not the way I like her," Kyle sighed, looking back out at New York. "I don't stand a chance. She's still talking about running away and- I…" Kyle turned back towards them. "I know you guys want out, too,"

"No,"

"Desperately," Will nodded, getting a slap on the back of the head from Zola. "Kidding! Kidding. Look, even if she does g on this trip, you still have a couple days to ratchet up the romance quotient,"

"Just try to put yourself in her shoes. This is all so strange for her but me know she'll say those words, 'I love you,'"

Kyle sighed, looking down at the tree on his arm that told him how much time was left. The tree was nearly in full bloom. "It's just that the year is almost up,"

"Just take her to whatever bad-boy country house Daddy's got," Will suggested.

"Daddy don't got-" Zola gave Kyle a firm look that made him sigh. "Just the lake cottage,"

"Just the-" Will pretended to gag before rolling his unseeing eyes. "Oh, for Christ's sake, would you buy a fricking vowel? Go!"

By noon, Kyle and Lizzie arrived at the McMansion by the lake, Lizzie's eyes as wide as saucers as she took it in. It was easily the most beautiful place that Lizzie had ever physically been to in her whole life and she absolutely loved it.

"So, are you dying of boredom yet?"

"No," Lizzie smiled over at Hunter as she walked out onto the terrace. "It must have been so great as a kid, coming here,"

"My dad got bad cell reception down at the lake," Kyle scoffed, scooting the vase of flowers across the table. "He could only take it for about forty-five minutes. But those forty-five minutes… they were awesome,"

Lizzie smiled at him. "What did you guys do?"

Lizzie liked the way his smile grew, getting crooked at the corners. "We'd play catch, wrestle, throw stones… but eventually my dad would get fidgety or his phone would finally ring,"

Kyle looked over at Lizzie as she frowned at him, sadness in her eyes before she looked to the lake. "My dad was a piano tuner before my mom left. He didn't make a lot but he loved it," Lizzie told him, leaning back against one of the pillars. "He used to take me sometimes. I got to meet all these cool rich people and their houses… but after my mom left, he just lost it. She came and saw me before she did- I was half asleep- and she told me she couldn't take it anymore, taking care of people, doing all of the real work… so she left it to me,"

Lizzie sighed and looked over at Kyle with a sad smile.

"In the past few months, living away from my dad- not spending every second worrying about him, not worrying about him trying to beat on me, not trying to fix everything- it's been wonderful. That's why I wanted to go away on that trip in the first place," Lizzie smiled blissfully at him. "I guess this cage set me free,"

The smile on her face made Kyle feel warm inside, made him want to see that smile on her face all the time. He ducked his head and fingered the petals of a nearby flower before giving her a shy smile and asking; "Is that a 'thank you'?"

Lizzie couldn't help but laugh at that. "I guess it is," she nodded before stepping away from the pillar and bowing deeply. "Thank you, sir knight, for saving me from the evil king,"

Kyle smiled back and bowed his head. "You are very welcome, miss Damsel,"

Lizzie covered her mouth as she giggled before her eyes moved to the lake behind her. "Can we go down to the lake?"

Kyle nodded. "Of course,"

Lizzie practically ran all the way down to the lake, at one point doing a summersault that would make her dress fly up around her hips. When she landed again she'd have the most embarrassed, cute, and happy look on her face as she pulled her dress back down to her knees. Kyle couldn't help but laugh as he stuffed his finished longhand letter into his back pocket and followed her to the water.

Lizzie ended up walking along the thin stone wall that created the barrier between the lawn and the drop to the water's edge. She took Kyle's hand in hers and used him to balance as the two walked along the back of the property.

"I've been writing something for you," Kyle finally admitted when he got up enough courage.

Lizzie looked over at him and smiled, curious. "What is it?"

"A letter,"

Kyle tossed it into the air, causing Lizzie to lose her balance as she reached out to grab it. Lizzie caught the letter and Kyle caught her on the way down, the two of them ending up in the grass, Kyle hovering over her. The two stared at each other, their eyes locked on each other, both gravitating toward each other slowly.

"_Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth_!"

The two of them sprung away from each other, Lizzie's hand going down her shirt to pull out her phone, glaring down at the name glowing on it.

"I'm sorry," she told him when she looked back up. "This is Beth's home phone," Lizzie quickly answered and was in for the shock of her life. "What?!"

Kyle watched her annoyed and embarrassed expression suddenly change to shocked and pained as she listened to the person on the other side.

"Which hospital?" Pause. "I'll call you back,"

Lizzie hung up, tears in her eyes as she looked at Kyle.

"Beth ODed,"

Kyle gave her a confused look. "But you said Beth doesn't do drugs,"

Tears came to Lizzie's eyes. "Exactly,"

Kyle was confused for a long moment before comprehension came to him. "You think that your father attacked Beth?"

Lizzie nodded. "I wouldn't put it past him if he was desperate and angry enough,"

"You can't go," Kyle said instantly.

"I have to," Lizzie told him firmly, getting off the ground and starting to walk towards the house in a hurry. "I've got to tell them what happened, make sure Beth's okay, call my dad,"

Kyle grabbed Lizzie's arm and spun her around toward him. "But what if he gets to you first?"

Lizzie sighed and shook her head. "That won't happen,"

She pulled away from him and ran into the house, grabbing her stuff from her room before turning to see Hunter standing in the doorway watching her.

"I don't want you to go,"

"I have to," she told him desperately. "I need to see Beth,"

Hunter growled deep in his chest, turning his eyes away from her before he finally nodded his head, looking more pissed than excepting. "You're right,"

Lizzie sighed in relief. "Thank you,"

Kyle drove her to the train station, listening to her name off more superheroes than he knew existed as he sped down the road in his convertible.

"Rogue… Gambit… Wolverine… Batman… Robin 1-5… Spoiler… Miss Martian… Green Arrow… Martian Manhunter… Miss Martian… Aquaman… Aqua lad… Superman… Superboy… Supergirl… Wonderwoman… Copycat… Mercury… Spoiler… Lifeguard… Pixie… Silver Surfer… Mockingbird… Colossus… Kitty Pryde… Molly Hawes… She-Hulk… X-23… Psylocke… Pheonix… Angel… Ironfist… Fantastic Four… Cyclops…"

It was only when they got within hearing distance of the train station that she stopped, her knuckles turning white as she clutched the edge of her dress.

"Go, go, go!" Kyle exclaimed instantly as he stopped the car, the conductor yelling 'all aboard' as they started running up the platform.

"I'll call you,"

"She's gonna be fine,"

"Okay, I'll call you and as soon as she's better and everything is straightened out, I'll come back,"

"Yeah,"

"And everything will be all right," she told herself more than him. She ran up into the train before running back, looking at him as she took her backpack from him. "And Hunter…"

"Yeah?" Kyle asked, hopeful.

"Thank you for everything," she told him with a smile, kissing him on the forehead before running into the compartment.

Kyle's heart shattered and dropped and exploded and was torn into a million pieces all at once and all he could do was stand there as the train began to pull away. The only reason Kyle moved at all was when he heard Lizzie tap her window. He looked up to see her holding his letter, waving it at him before turning around and opening it, beginning to read it.

"Don't-Don't read that! Don't read that! _Don't read that_!"

But it was too late and she was gone.

_**Dear Lizzie, I've been thinking about letters recently, the real kind- longhand- and how it's terrible that nobody's writing them anymore. So I decided to start one to you today and I'm going to write to you every day for a long, long, long time because I think I might be in danger of falling in love with you…**_


	5. Beauty and the Beast

**Author's Note:**** This is the last one, guys. Thank you for showing your support by reviewing. Hope you enjoy the bittersweet ending. And no, I'm not going to fix the end. That is where it ends. Deal with it.**

**...**

**Love you guys. **

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Beauty and the Beast**

"_Hey, it's me. Lizzie... Beth is gonna be okay but she's out of it. I was right about my dad but they can't find him and… Look, I really want to talk to you about you letter_-"

"_Hunter, would you please call me back? I want to talk to you about_-"

"_It's me… obviously. Look, I don't understand. You wrote me this letter_-"

"_Hunter? Where are you? Why won't you call me_-?"

"_Hello?! What's going on_-?"

"_Hunter_-"

"_Dipwad! Call_-"

"'_Ello_?" Kyle stopped deleting Lizzie's messages and gave his phone a curious look as a French woman began to speak. "_I am vondering if dis ezz Hunter King. Dis ezz Elizabeta Izabelle Flynn and I vould love to tok viz you,_"

Kyle rolled his eyes- trying not to smile- and hung up on his voice mail before going downstairs to find Will and Zola sitting at the dining table.

"Call her back," Zola told him instantly, without looking up from her book.

"Why? Because I'm a 'good friend'?"

"Yup," Will nodded as if Kyle was a numbskull.

"And not calling her back, what good that do, huh?" Zola asked, putting her phone down.

"She even called me!" Will exclaimed. "Why won't you talk to her? The last time I _talked_ to her, she told me she was hurt. And 'hurt' is girl-speak for, 'Call now, bonehead,'"

"She don't know what to do, so she go back to school to go on the trip," Zola told him, making him look up at her in shock.

Had so much time passed?

The next day Kyle went to Tuttle high school to try to talk to her. With his hood up and over his face, he walked into his old high school and over to the digital bulletin board. He was about to call Lizzie back when the picture for the Manchu Picchu trip came up with the word 'Departed' stamped over it. Dred came over Kyle, making him lean his head back and groan as he realized that he was too late.

And then someone screamed.

Kyle's first instinct was to run like hell and not look back and that's what he did at first. But then he saw Kendra. Kyle stopped short.

"Who are you?" he heard someone ask.

Kyle turned, pulling off his hood and smiled at the crowd. "Who am I? I'm just me, inside out,"

With that, Kendra smiling at him, he ran out of Tuttle High School and out into the park, pulling out his phone and trying to call Lizzie. Every time he did he got her voice mail which was her voice telling him that he was calling the city morgue. He smirked at the ground before finally letting it go completely through so that he could leave a message.

"Lizzie, it's me… Hunter," Kyle sighed, sitting down on the nearest bench and glaring at the ground as he felt more and more stupid as he kept talking. "I wanted to see you before you left but… Look, I'm sorry. I was being dumb. I was just scared that you didn't… love me," Kyle sighed again, feeling extra stupid. "And I didn't think you could because of how ugly I am and I should have known better, that that's not who you are. I'm so sorry but just, please… call me back,"

Kyle hung up sadly before going to his voice mails, not surprised when he heard Lizzie's voice.

"_Look, I am dying to talk to you because the plane is leaving and… I'm not going_," Kyle's heart burst with happiness at hearing her say that, at feeling hope again. "_Of course I can't go, for a million reasons, the first being your letter, which was and is the most beautiful thing I have ever read. But the real reason is, I don't want to see one of the wonders of the world if I can't see it with you. So I'm on my way home. I'll wait for you there… Bye_,"

Kyle was instantly up and running down the streets, ignoring the stairs as people watched him streak by them. Kyle didn't care if people saw him anymore, he just knew that he needed to get to Lizzie, make things right. He was outside of her and her dad's apartment in a flash, coming face to face with a out of breath and haggard looking Simon Flynn, Lizzie's father.

"What the hell are you?" Simon bit out before his eyes went wide when he saw Kyle's face, seeing the tattoos, cuts, scars, pointed ears, and fangs.

"What did you do to her?" Kyle growled out at the man, throwing him up against the building.

Simon grinned at him. "Nothing little Lizzie didn't deserve,"

Kyle growled deep in his chest before slamming his fist into the man's fist, breaking his nose with a sound crack. Leaving him there, Kyle ran into the building, taking the stairs two at a time until he crashed into the apartment to find it trashed and Lizzie on the ground. She looked horrible; her face was red and beginning to swell up while her right leg and right arm were both angled wrong, telling him they were broken, and her hair was a literal bloody mess, tuffs of it around the room. Her body was covered in cuts, bruises, and her own blood, most of the blood coming from the bullet wound in her stomach and from her hair line.

"Lizzie!" Kyle yelled, running over and dropping down beside her, picking her up in his arms, his hand petting her face. "Lizzie! Lizzie! No, no, no, no,"

"Hunter?" Lizzie mumbled, her swelling eyes fluttering open until her brown eyes were looking into his blue ones. "Hunter?"

"Yeah, it's me," he told her, holding her close to his chest. "I'm here. I'm right here,"

"I knew you'd come," she told him, weakly snuggling toward him. "You always do,"

"Shh," he shushed her gently, petting the back of her head and coming away with blood. "I need to get you some help, Lizzie. Let me-"

"No," she said instantly, her hand gripping the front of his shirt as strongly as she could. "I don't feel it. I don't feel a thing,"

"Please let me get help,"

"No," she insisted, shaking her head. "I don't want you to leave,"

Kyle held her as close as he could without hurting her, leaning his back against the back of her couch as he set her head on his shoulder. "I have to tell you something,"

"What?"

"I was dumb to not call you back and I'm sorry. I was just scared that you didn't… love me," Kyle sighed again, feeling even more stupid than when he was telling her this over voice mail. "And I didn't think you could but I was stupid because I know that that's not who you are. You took one look at me and you still said you'd seen worse. And somehow, when I'm around you, I don't feel ugly at all,"

"Because you're not," she mumbled, her breathing growing shallow and shaky as her body started to get heavy against his chest, her body going slack. "Hunter?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking down at her.

"I love you," she mumbled before he head fell back and she stopped breathing completely.

"No!" Kyle yelled, sitting up straighter as he held her. "No!"

He could feel the dizziness of the change coming over him, feeling the same nausea in his stomach and the same tingly that went up his spine and encompassed his head. For the first time, Kyle didn't want to go back to the way he'd looked before. He didn't want to look like the old Kyle if it meant that he couldn't have her. His head dropped down to her shoulder as tears came to his eyes. He wouldn't be able to stand the sight of himself in a mirror if he knew that Lizzie had given his looks back to him and she wasn't there anymore. He needed her and now she was gone.

And then she suddenly took in a breath.

Kyle jerked back and looked down at Lizzie, shocked to see that all of the swelling, cuts, bruises and blood were gone. Her eyes flickered open and Kyle suddenly felt hope again… until she shrieked and shoved him away, scooting away from him until her back hit the nearest wall. Her brown eyes were wide and scared, her face confused as she looked him over.

"Kyle?"

"It's okay. It's okay," he tried to assure her, trying not to scare her more than she was. "It's me,"

"No shit, Sherlock," she bit at him, looking around the room. "Where's Hunter?"

"It's _me_," Kyle repeated, getting her to look at him again, but with more confusion. "It was always me. There was a curse-"

"_There was a curse_?" she repeated with anger, practical spitting at him.

"It changed me so that I was as ugly on the outside as I was on the inside," Kyle continued. "And then I saw you and I wanted to help you. But then you came and everything changed and then- and then I was in love with you,"

Lizzie eyes closed against the tears that were building up as she held a hand up to stop him. "No, please, just stop. Just… just stop,"

Kyle watched her and felt all hope slip away again. She didn't believe him, wouldn't ever believe him. But then again, why would she? What he was saying would seem crazy to anyone with half a brain… besides Will and Zola. And now he was losing Lizzie all over again.

Lizzie felt like her brain was going a million miles an hour and her wrist was tingling with that need that she'd been feeling since the first time she'd cut herself. She needed to calm down, she needed to think, she need to relax, she needed to figure this out. She needed Hunter… but he wasn't here. Kyle was here claiming that he was Hunter, claiming that he'd been put under some sort of spell.

She looked up at him to see him crying, something she would never think she'd see Kyle Kingsbury do… unless he lost his fortune and Abercrombie and Finch burned down universally. But there he was, crying, and Lizzie suddenly saw something else. His eyes. His eyes were the same eyes that had been looking down at her when she'd been in Hunters arms. Kyle's voice had been the same voice that had been talking to her when Hunter had been telling her how sorry he was.

"It's really you, isn't it?" Lizzie muttered, watching him.

Kyle looked up at her, tears still in his eyes, and nodded. "It's me,"

Lizzie smiled. "… It's you,"

She quickly crawled toward him until her lips touched his, her hand gripping the front of his shirt and pulling him toward her. Kyle smiled against her lips and pulled her toward him just as fervently, holding her close as the sirens sounded outside. The two pulled away from each other, pressing their foreheads together as they smiled at each other happily.

"I love you,"

_**And they lived happily ever after…**_

**THE END**


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